_____________________________________________________________ Volume 6 January 1991 Number 1 _____________________________________________________________ Editor Editorial Assistants John Miles Foley Sarah J. Feeny David Henderson Managing Editor Whitney Strait Lee Edgar Tyler J. Chris Womack Book Review Editor Adam Brooke Davis Slavica Publishers, Inc. Slavica Publishers, Inc. For a complete catalog of books from Slavica, with prices and ordering information, write to: Slavica Publishers, Inc. P.O. Box 14388 Columbus, Ohio 43214 ISSN: 0883-5365 Each contribution copyright (c) 1991 by its author. All rights reserved. The editor and the publisher assume no responsibility for statements of fact or opinion by the authors. Oral Tradition seeks to provide a comparative and interdisciplinary focus for studies in oral literature and related fields by publishing research and scholarship on the creation, transmission, and interpretation of all forms of oral traditional expression. As well as essays treating certifiably oral traditions, OT presents investigations of the relationships between oral and written traditions, as well as brief accounts of important fieldwork, a Symposium section (in which scholars may reply at some length to prior essays), review articles, occasional transcriptions and translations of oral texts, a digest of work in progress, and a regular column for notices of conferences and other matters of interest. In addition, occasional issues will include an ongoing annotated bibliography of relevant research and the annual Albert Lord and Milman Parry Lectures on Oral Tradition. OT welcomes contributions on all oral literatures, on all literatures directly influenced by oral traditions, and on non-literary oral traditions. Submissions must follow the list-of reference format (style sheet available on request) and must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope for return or for mailing of proofs; all quotations of primary materials must be made in the original language(s) with following English translations. Authors should submit two copies of all manuscripts. Most contributions will be reviewed by at least one specialist reader and one member of the editorial board before a final decision is reached. Review essays, announcements, and contributions to the Symposium section will be evaluated by the editor in consultation with the board. Oral Tradition will appear three times per year, in January, May, and October. Annual subscription charges are $18 for individuals and $35 for libraries and other institutions. All manuscripts, books for review, items for the annual bibliography, and editorial correspondence should be addressed to the editor, John Miles Foley, Center for Studies in Oral Tradition, 301 Read Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211. Printed in the United States of America. EDITORIAL BOARD Patricia Arant Joseph J. Duggan Brown University Univ. of Cal./Berkeley Russian French, Spanish, comparative Samuel Armistead Alan Dundes University of California/Davis Univ. of Cal./Berkeley Hispanic, comparative Folklore Ilhan Bașgöz Mark W. Edwards Indiana University Stanford University Turkish Ancient Greek Franz H. Bäuml Ruth Finnegan Univ. of Cal./Los Angeles Open University Middle High German African, South Pacific Roderick Beaton Donald K. Fry King’s College, London Poynter Institute Modern Greek Old English Dan Ben-Amos Joseph Harris University of Pennsylvania Harvard University Folklore Old Norse Daniel Biebuyck Melissa Heckler University of Delaware New York Storytelling Center African Storytelling Issa J. Boullata Elizabeth Jeffreys McGill University University of Sydney Arabic Byzantine Greek David E. Bynum Michael Jeffreys Cleveland State University University of Sydney East European, comparative Byzantine Greek Robert P. Creed Minna Skafte Jensen Univ. of Mass./Amherst University of Copenhagen Old English, comparative Ancient Greek, Latin Robert Culley Werner Kelber McGill University Rice University Biblical Studies Biblical Studies EDITORIAL BOARD Robert Kellogg Felix J. Oinas University of Virginia Indiana University Old Germanic, comparative Finnish, Russian Eleanor Long Isidore Okpewho Univ. of Cal./Los Angeles University of Ibadan Folk Ballad African, Ancient Greek Albert B. Lord Walter J. Ong Harvard University (Emeritus) St. Louis University (Emeritus) Slavic, comparative Hermeneutics of orality and literacy Victor Mair Jeff Opland University of Pennsylvania Vassar College Chinese African, Old English John S. Miletich Svetozar Petrović Las Vegas, Nevada University of Novi Sad Spanish, Serbo-Croatian, Serbo-Croatian, Critical theory comparative D. Gary Miller Burton Raffel University of Florida Univ. of Southwestern Linguistics, Ancient Greek Louisiana Translation Nada Milošević-Djordjević Alain Renoir University of Belgrade Univ. of Cal./Berkeley Serbo-Croatian (Emeritus) Old Germanic, Old French, comparative Michael Nagler Bruce A. Rosenberg Univ. of Cal./Berkeley Brown University Ancient Greek, Sanskrit, Folk narrative, Medieval comparative literature Gregory Nagy Deborah Tannen Harvard University Georgetown University Ancient Greek, Sanskrit, Linguistics, Discourse theory comparative Joseph Falaky Nagy Dennis Tedlock Univ. of Cal./Los Angeles SUNY/Buffalo Old Irish Native American Jacob Neusner Jeff Todd Titon Brown University Brown University Hebrew, Biblical StudiesFelix Music EDITORIAL BOARD J. Barre Toelken Ruth Webber Utah State University University of Chicago Folklore, Native American (Emerita) Spanish, comparative Leo Treitler Michael Zwettler SUNY/Stony Brook Ohio State University Music Arabic Ronald J. Turner Univ. of Missouri/Columbia Storytelling Contents Editor’s Column.......................................................................................... 1 Svetozar Koljević Folk Traditions in Serbo-Croatian Literary Culture ..........................3 Koenraad Kuiper The Evolution of an Oral Tradition: Race-Calling in Canterbury, New Zealand ..............................19 William Sayers Serial Defamation in Two Medieval Tales: The Icelandic Ölkofra þáttr and The Irish Scéla Mucce Meic Dathó ..........................................................35 Ryan Bishop There’s Nothing Natural About Natural Conversation: A Look at Dialogue in Fiction and Drama ...............................58 Jeffrey Alan Mazo Compound Diction and Traditional Style in Beowulf and Genesis A ...........................................................................79 Carol Dougherty Phemius’ Last Stand: The Impact of Occasion on Tradition in the Odyssey ..................................................................93 Ruth Finnegan Tradition, But What Tradition and For Whom? (The Milman Parry Lecture on Oral Tradition for 1989-90) ............................................................................104 Symposium: Rules for Art in Oral Tradition Proceedings from the 1988 Modern Language Association section Frederick Turner Toward an Evolutionary Ontology of Beauty .................................126 Carl Lindahl The Oral Aesthetic and the Bicameral Mind ..................................130 Robert L. Kellogg Literary Aesthetics in Oral Art .......................................................137 About the Authors ...................................................................................141 Editor’s Column With the present issue Oral Tradition begins its sixth year of publication, with a number of new developments on the horizon. Upcoming contents will include a special issue on the oral traditions of Yugoslavia guest-edited by John Miletich (6, ii-iii). This collection of essays will present noted Yugoslav scholars describing and analyzing the many oral genres that constitute that tradition; while some of the articles treat the most familiar poetic type—the epic, this issue will also contain essays on the lyric, ballad, legend, and prose narrative. For the fi rst time, then, native scholars will present a comprehensive picture of Yugoslav oral traditions to an English-speaking audience. Oral Tradition will also be featuring an “epistolary symposium” on the topic of “Orality, Literacy, and Contemporary Critical Theory” beginning in 1992. A signifi cant new section of Oral Tradition, this exchange will be edited by Ellie Ragland-Sullivan, and will provide scholars with an opportunity for a meaningful exchange of ideas and theories on this timely subject. illterested individuals should correspond with the special editor (c/o Center for Studies in Oral Tradition, University of Missouri, 301 Read Hall, Columbia, MO 65211) before submitting a 5 10 page “letter” for consideration. In this issue of OT we present a miscellany of essays on oral traditions from ancient Greece and medieval Europe to modern New Zealand, from the language of epic to the orality of dialogue in the novel and short story, and from linguistic and textual inquiry to biological correlation between art and psyche. Svetozar Koljević opens the discussion with an eye- (or ear-) opening illustration of the poetic value of formulaic phraseology in the Serbo-Croatian narrative poetry. Especially because the mechanism-versus-aesthetics debate over repetitive language has raged so long, his remarks on the traditional resonance of certain phrases will certainly open new vistas for specialists in numerous oral traditions. From the poems of the nineteenth- century Serbian collector Vuk Karadžić, Koenraad Kuiper takes us out to the racetrack in Christ Church, New Zealand, and to the oral genre of calling horseraces.